Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala., will be the site for the 2014 USA Football Bowl on Jan. 20, 2014. (Jon Anderson/janderson@al.com)

HOOVER, Alabama - More than 130 college all-star football players from across the country will be coming to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in January for the USA Football Bowl, including some SEC players, bowl officials announced today.

The USA Football Bowl will draw top players from the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision, Division II and Division III, as well as players from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), officials said.

However, there also will be some players from the top-level of the NCAA (the Football Bowl Subdivision), including some from the Southeastern Conference, said Dennis Wilson, the president of the USA Football Network who is serving his 23rd consecutive term as president of the Metropolitan New York Football Writers Association.

"The SEC will be represented," Wilson said. He has commitments from Mississippi State, Arkansas and the University of Houston (in the American Athletic Conference), and "Mr. Saban better give me an Alabama boy," Wilson said with a smile.

The USA Football Bowl will be played on Jan. 20, but there are five days of activities. Those include a national awards banquet for FCS, Division II and III, NAIA, NCCAA and USCAA players on Jan. 19 and a USA Professional Football Leagues Testing Combine that will be conducted on Jan. 21 by NFL, CFL, and AFL coaches and scouts.

Each of the teams in the all-star bowl game will have 66 players, including three quarterbacks, Wilson said. The rosters for the teams (the Generals and the Admirals) will not be announced until after the rosters are announced for the Senior Bowl in Mobile and the East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg on Dec. 1, Wilson said.

This will be the last hurrah for some of the players and their parents, but the more serious ones will use it as a chance to show off their skills in an effort to play professional ball, Wilson said. "These kids are all capable of getting into the NFL," he said.

Most of the coaches have not been announced yet, but Wilson did say that the defensive coordinator for the Generals will be Ronald McKinnon, a former University of North Alabama standout linebacker who played 10 years in the NFL and most recently served as an assistant coach at Miles College.

The USA Football Bowl started in 1995 as the Division III Senior All-Star Classic, according to the bowl's website. It later became known as the Aztec Bowl for 10 years and was played in Mexico, Wilson said.

In 2010, the event absorbed the Division II Cactus Bowl, and in 2011, NAIA, NCCAA and USCAA senior All-Americans were made eligible. Then in 2012, FCS seniors who earned All-Conference designation were added.

The bowl game has moved around the country and last year was held in Virginia, Wilson said. Virginia proved to be too cold in January, so officials began looking for a warmer climate, Wilson said.

Alabama proved to be the answer, he said. "The enthusiasm here is great. It's a football state," he said.

The number of colleges playing football in Alabama - 18 - is shocking, Wilson said.

Bowl officials chose Hoover Metropolitan Stadium as the venue primarily because the people in Hoover know football so well, have a beautiful stadium and know how to run an event, he said.

Now, he's just hoping the weather cooperates, he said. "I'm joking, but I'm not joking - there better be no snow," he said.

The USA Football Bowl will have a live online radio broadcast on the National Gridiron Network and a tape-delayed national television broadcast, Wilson said. Typically, the game is aired two days later on ESPNU and/or the NFL Channel, he said.

The Hoover Met is the former home of the Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team and serves as the site for the SEC Baseball Tournament and Hoover High School home football games. Other events that have been held at the Met include the NCAA men's soccer College Cup Final Four and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour.

This post was updated at 2:20 a.m. on Nov. 15 to correct the name of the top football level of the NCAA.